


S’no Man Hanging

by Teal_Rainbeau



Series: Klancemas 2019 Rainbeau Written [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Everyone Is Alive, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Getting Together, Hangman, Klancemas 2019, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Love Confessions, M/M, Made For Each Other, Not Canon Compliant, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), POV Lance (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), Post-Season/Series 08 Finale, Snowmen, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Traditions, With A Twist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21847813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teal_Rainbeau/pseuds/Teal_Rainbeau
Summary: Previously title “Solving The Puzzle In Snowman’s Land”With a soft sigh, Keith finally rises from his chair and passes a sheet of paper to Coran.“What’s this? Our Black Paladin wants to get in on the action and end his reign of being a “sour puss”? It’s a word patented by our very own Sharpshooter, by the way.” Coran quickly throws in to appease to Lance but probably to take the heat away from himself.The category of the puzzle is “Movie Title”:_’_   _ _   _ _ _ __ _ _ _  _ _ _   _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _“Oh, I’m about to murder this!” Lance kicks back with his arms folded behind his head. All he has to do is use the classic winning streak of R, S, T, L, N, E and this game was in the bag. He calls out the letter R with steely assurance.“There is no R!” Coran announces zestfully, with Keith carrying a slight mocking undertone to his smirk.=====Written for Day 13/17: Snowman/Traditions for Klancemas2019.atMonthly Klance's Tumblr Pageif you want to join in! :D
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Klancemas 2019 Rainbeau Written [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1567264
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	S’no Man Hanging

**Author's Note:**

> 4-11-20 Changed a little bit of dialogue between Lance and Keith (Red vs. Blue paladin wording)

Stomachs are full, friends are happy, the world is at peace.

Game night!

Lance declares it gleefully after dinner; so everyone gathers outside.

The other former Paladins wait for the kicker while huddled together in front of the dancing flame of the firepit. Coran is here as well, and so is Allura via holographic communications. She made it, albeit in her New Altea bed quarters fighting off some debilitating bug. She still looks gorgeous, though.

“Tonight’s game will be Hangman, but with a twist!”

“Are you talking about that game where you keep guessing letters, and a stick person hangs from a noose?”

“Maybe in your little world, Keith.” Lance frowns slightly out of concern, earning a not-so-amused deadpan from his Paladin friend.

“So, what’s the twist?” Pidge asked for the heck of it while straightening her glasses.

“Glad you asked! Lance pours all playful energy into his upper body and motions enthusiastically with his hands, showcasing large, unused portions of the yard, which has uneven snow piles glistening from the pale lights of their patio. “We’re gonna use snow!”

His friends simply peer with blank expressions, clearly not knowing what the significance is.

“How innovative.” Pidge mooned dryly.

“You see, _all this beautiful excess_ is gonna be used to make snowmen, so every time someone gets a letter wrong, we’ll simply build portions until the entire body is constructed, eyes and all.”

“I’m game.” Hunk sipped his cocoa with a quick leap of his brows. 

“That’s a unique spin on it for sure.” Shiro bites liberally into a sugar cookie and sits up in his chair.

“So…we’re not drawing hanging snow angels…” Keith’s voice drones dully as his brows crease.

“Sorry, my man. Gotta keep it nonviolent for us sensitive souls here.” What was with his obsession with hanging and knives? Maybe he should get that sorted out with a therapist or something?

Of course, it is not a game of _Snowman_ without a host and his lovely assistant. Lance is a contestant, and the letters on the board materialize due to voice recognition technology. He doubts running his mouth would win over well after several minutes: therefore, the pivotal double role goes to Coran the Gorgeous Man ™.

“It’s a good thing I brushed up on my Earth English Alphabet while at the Garrison.” Coran gushed with pride.

“Coran, you’ve played this game with us. Remember the little stick person drawing? The lines and the letters?”

Coran rests his chin with his thumb anchoring it, “I think it’s starting to come back to me…that was when Keith, formally known as number four, kicked a chair with demands of a “redo” after you stumped him with that Purushian Language word. Then you said no, and he tore off like a rabid Yxca out of forced hibernation?”

“Oh yeah…” Lance smiles reluctantly with his brows upturned. “It was like he was in fast motion…”

Keith wears a scowl, indigo eyes pierced with a smoldering metallic warning aimed at the boy. Maybe Lance should shelve that trip for later…

To make it much easier and quicker for snowman building between games, the team gathers a pair a twig with some rocks. Shiro and Kosmo volunteer to build the snow companion based on how the game progressed. 

With the Paladins submitting their own respective clues for their friends to solve, Coran is ready to put on a show for his queen.

“I could use the entertainment.” Allura huffs a few times before jolting with a delicate sneeze.

Pidge has people stumped, until Lance rattles off an _R, A,_ and an _N._ The answer is _Olkarion._

Hunk’s puzzle is a little more challenging despite Lance using the most common letters of the alphabet to help him out. The category is “around the world” with Hunk’s answer being the “Macross Boarding School”, located twenty miles south of the Galaxy Garrison. 

After a while, Shiro and Allura finally decide to submit their own stumpers, with Pidge and Hunk eventually winning one round each.

With a soft sigh, Keith finally rises from his chair and passes a sheet of paper to Coran.

“What’s this? Our Black Paladin wants to get in on the action and end his reign of being a “sour puss”? It’s a word patented by our very own Sharpshooter, by the way.” Coran quickly throws in to appease to Lance but probably to take the heat away from himself.

The category of the puzzle is “Movie Title”:

_’_ _ _ _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Oh, I’m about to _murder_ this!” Lance kicks back with his arms folded behind his head. All he has to do is use the classic winning streak of R, S, T, L, N, E and this game was in the bag. He calls out the letter R with steely assurance.

“There is no _R!_ ” Coran announces zestfully, with Keith carrying a slight mocking undertone to his smirk.

“Huh? What kind of puzzle like THIS has no frickin _R_!?” Lance yells with his posture angrily upright as Keith cleans out the assault on his right ear with a pinky.

Pidge and Hunk chuckle while huddled into each other, with Shiro crossing his legs and biting down the urge to laugh heartily at the boy’s hubris.

“Lance, it’s only a game, let’s not take it to heart.” Allura watches with her mouth slightly ajar and eyes bright as Shiro and Kosmo push together the base of the snowman.

All he can do is sit up on the edge of his seat and bite the inside of his cheeks. He was **not** going to crash and burn horribly like he did last year on Garfle Warfle Snick with all that word vomiting. It makes him cringe with electricity in his gut every time the memories came flooding back.

He folds his arms and glares at Keith, because _of course_ he had the potential to turn this game into another showy display of overachieving _Keithiness._ However, when Hunk calls an _S_ to a response of “I’m sorry” and an added torso to their snow friend, it makes him feel a tad more confident that he could still win this…

Pidge must’ve caught on to Lance’s tactic because she calls a “T” next. The first letter of the game.

_’_ _ _ _ _ _ _

_ _ T _ T _ _ _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

“It looks like our Paladins are on a certain streak here. It’s too bad that I wouldn’t call it a _winning one.”_

“Way to rub it in, Coran!” Lance mutters through the press of his hand in his cheek.

“ _L_ ”, Shiro calls out.

There are three _Ls_

_’_ _ _ L _ _ _

_ _ T _ T _ _ _ L _ _

_ _ L _ _ _ _

Shiro has no clue and does not bother to throw out any sounds. Alright, so that means Lance is up. There absolutely _had to be an N…_

_’_ _ N L _ _ _

_ _ T _ T _ _ _ L _ _

_ _ L _ _ _ N

Allura finishes blowing her nose and sits up with a wry twist to her lips, “There should be a rule where you can buy a hint or something. As queen I declare…”

“Don’t even think about it.” Shiro nods with a playful grin and Allura returned it with a shrug. Maybe on her home planet, she could establish the new rule…

“Pass.” Lance looks at Hunk after struggling to find meaning. Hunk enthusiastically calls an _A._

_’_ _ N L _ _ _

_ _ T _ T _ _ _ L _ _

_ A L A _ _ N

Hunk begs for a “tiny” hint from Keith, to which he stubbornly says “no dice” with his arms folded and a grin tapered to his lips.

“Wait a minute, I know that last word is _Paladin!”_

Pidge chimes in, “Then that word before it…”

After some muttering amongst themselves, Pidge, Hunk and Lance shout, “Blue Paladin!” Hunk bemoans his inability to fill in the rest of the blanks “for the life of him”.

“Our players are finally picking up speed, much to the chagrin of our dear headless snowman over there. And Keith appears to be sweating… Maybe you didn’t stump them as well as you thought?”

“Maybe not…” Keith’s gaze wanders to the incomplete snowman.

Lance shouts an _I._

I’_ I N L _ _ _

_ I T _ T _ _ _ L _ _

_ A L A _ I N

“Umm… _I’m in **something** with the Blue Paladin… I’m in…”_

He peeks from his peripheral just enough to see Keith staring at him with his lips pursed and eyes slightly lidded with intensity. It makes Lance’s breath hitch uncomfortably in his throat.

“Can you _not_?!”

“Huh? What am I doing?” Keith responds with one eye squinted in confusion.

“That _look,_ Keith. Kinda giving me the heebies here.” He says softly.

“Sorry.”

At this point, he’s now about ninety percent sure of the other words, but that “L” word… _wait a minute…_

“I’M IN LOVE WITH THE BLUE PALADIN!”

I’M I N L O V E

W I T H T H E B L U E

P A L A D I N

“Victory for Lance!!” Coran shouts jubilantly among the sudden fall of strobe lights. “And back to bed with you, Dear Snow one…” Coran’s bottom lip quivered as Kosmo pounced on the remains and started rolling around playfully. 

With the game over after an hour or so, Lance had the most victory wins bar none. “Aww, yeah! What’s my prize?!”

Hunk, Pidge, Shiro, Allura, even Kosmo (he swears) are each wearing the most sickeningly sweet and sour smirks. Lance calms down from his victory shuffle dance in the snow when he spots all the strange expressions. 

It’s so evident to him now…

He looks back at Keith, who was smiling at him warmly. His face is a little red, probably from the cold nipping at the skin.

“Keith…” Lance’s filter softens for a few seconds, then something similar to liquid annoyance flows, “you found a movie about me, _and you didn’t say anything sooner_?!”

“I…it…just found it the other day at Sal’s or something!” Keith shifts with flush painting his face.

Lance opens his palm in imaginary pursuit of a straight answer from this guy. “What do you mean “or something?” Either you got it from there, or you didn’t!”

“I didn’t, I mean…I-I don’t remember!!”

Oblivious to Lance, everyone else’s eyes were glued to the bizarre scene playing out, without a word uttered, not even from Coran.

=====

Now that the game is over and neither he and Keith are flustered, Lance will try again to get a straight answer from his verbally wayward friend. But he waits until everyone else turns in for the night and leaves the comfort of his bedroom to meet him outside in front of the fire pit.

“Hey, umm. So strictly out of curiosity, what made you pick that particular movie title?

“Just wanted to.” Keith’s face softens now that it’s just the two of them, but Lance knows Keith’s manner of coy concealment all too well. “It’s about an alien that falls in love with the Blue Paladin.”

“Sounds straightforward. Would you give it a thumbs up?”

“I would give it a fist.” Keith states with casual conviction.

“A _fist?”_ Again, _not_ answering his question. Maybe Keith still had a lot to learn about this whole “using your words” life skill.

Keith takes a quick look at Lance’s upturned lip and furrowed brow and makes a titter, “It’s not a thumbs up or down.”

Lance pictured the three hand gestures in his mind and finally got a whiff of “aha” pheromones.

“Also, the Blue Paladin doesn’t exist anymore, not the way the movie portrayed him. That character was cocky and way too full of himself. However, the _pilot of the Red Lion_ …”

Lance listens and waits for what he wants to say next, still smoothing over his wrinkled ego. Movie portrayal or not, hearing an unfiltered account of how he used to be perceived makes him squirm, to put it mildly.

“ _That_ version of the Blue Paladin was my favorite because he’s innovative, kind, and bold without being brash. _That’s_ the paladin _I’ve_ grown fond of.” He reveals a glimmer of a smile rarely seen and Lance yearns to experience the butterflies at play when he does witness it. It’s so hard to believe that two years ago, Lance could only imagine this version of Keith in an alternate wormhole universe. Someone who was literally the best of the best that could still see excellence in Lance without any urge to brag about himself.

“Since we’re alone now… do you feel the same way about the real-life version?”

“I mean, movies are nice to watch… but they don’t imitate life the way art does.”

Well… _Keith’s eyes_ are a work of art; the way indigo expands to a flush of dark violet. His hands are welcoming to his burning cheeks as Lance tilts his head, giving the other man permission to cool his heated cheeks with his gloved hand while his bare fingertips brush his temple.

Something about the weight of Keith’s words snap him back to reality and away from Keith’s embrace, “Wait…you were talking about _real life_ me?!”

“Don’t see any other Blue Paladins around here, Lance. Didn’t I make it clear in the past?” Keith’s tone drags an octave higher.

“When the heck was THIS?!”

He tries again, more plainly this time, “Last year during the sunset, before your date with Allura?”

“Yeah, I remember! You were being all encouraging and telling me all that good stuff about how I knew exactly who I was and what I had to offer…” the word current slows and Lance grows silent as a harder-hitting “aha” moment steadily sits him on the bench, mouth suspended in a circle of realization. His legs are apart and hands folded tightly between them.

The fires of the pit in front of him have since smoldered to glowing crackles.

He had really snowed on Keith’s parade through the years, hadn’t he?

“Please don’t be that way.” The other man’s eyes are furrowed in empathy as he sits next to him.

“I’m really as blind as a mouse, huh?” Lance moans with his head drooped in self-pity.

“Lance…we were all weighted down by other things. The war, always having to think several steps ahead…even when things were stable. Give yourself some credit!” Keith’s tone is shaky in anger yet laced with a loving plea. “I couldn’t love you any less!”

Lance looks up. This time the crackling from before takes place in his chest as he slowly leans into Keith, staring into his eyes for an invitation. Keith’s hand returns to the space on Lance’s cheek as he presses his lips warmly into his. Lightning crackles at the base of Lance’s abdomen while warm essence floods to his heart. His legs anchor shakily to the snow.

When they break the kiss, Lance wavers dizzily as he uses the sight of Keith’s returning smile to gather his bearings somehow.

“Wow…that was kinda…”

Keith’s smile fades to a blushing grimace and Lance follows what’s bothering him. Four windows glow on their side of the house, then cut off rapidly in fractured unison when the two paramours glare.

“Yeah?! You better run!” Keith shakes his fist into the air.

Lance laughs at this display and pulls him in for another kiss, because, why not?

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> I really enjoyed writing this one, and I hope you enjoy reading it ;) As always, thanks a lot for stopping by! ♡  
> You can find snippets of upcoming projects on my [ Tumblr](https://tealrainbeau.tumblr.com/)


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